Professional Photography at WDW ?

[ThisKnee]

Is there a professional photography studio at WDW? We would like to get a nice christmas picture (hopefully with Mickey) so we can make cards out of the picture.

Thanks

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Disney Trips
1978 - Day Visit to MK
1992 - Day Visit to EPCOT
3/96 - Off Site (Holiday Inn / International Drive)
7/96 - Downtown Disney Courtyard
7/97 - Off Site (Days Inn / Orlando)
6/99 - Downtown Disney Courtyard
7/00 - Caribbean Beach Resort
9/00 - Offsite (Marriott / LBV)
4/01 - Coronado Springs
5/01 - Downtown Disney / Hilton
6/01 - Downtown Disney / Courtyard
8/01 - Offsite (Marriott / LBV)
9/01 - Offsite (Marriott / LBV)

Future visits:
**Thanksgiving 2001 Contemporary and Grand Floridian
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Premium Annual Pass Holder

[mktiggerman]

How professional, and how intimate with mickey?

StudioM at Downtown Disney offers packages for a private meet with Mickey (no appointment necessary, just show up).

But if you are willing to spend a LARGE wad of cash, DIsney will accomodate almost anything you want.

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Disney Cast Member
Walt Disney Entertainment - East
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[Karl]

Yes, Disney has professional photographic services. We used them for our wedding, and they are really the best wedding pictures I've seen. I'm not just saying that because their mine either.

I'm not sure how you would go about arranging something like that, but you could try guest relations and go from there.

Disney will do anything you want, it's all about how much you are willing to spend. This is just a guess, but I'm guessing it will go something like this, you'll need to pick up the cost of the character, which I think is about $350 each for 1/2 hour. Photography will probably run you about $175 an hour or so, and don't be surprised if there's a charge for the location.

The pictures themselves will probably fall somewhere around here: (reprints / portraits)
4x5 - $12.50 / $30
4x6 - $7.50 / $30
5x5 - $15.00 / $35
5x7 - $20.00 / $40
8x8 - $25.00 / $55
8x10 - $30.00 / $65
10x10 - $35.00 / $65
11x14 - $55.00 / $95
16x20 - $85.00 / $165 (mounted)
20x24 - $115.00 / $225 (mounted)
30x40 - $250.00 / $380 (mounted)

This info was taken off our price guide, which is only about 4 months old. It'll be a little steep, but we are 100% satisfied with the results, and would definitely use them again if we did it over.

Let me know if you have any other questions...
KARL

[Simba 1]

There are photographers at all the parks, usually in the morining, but also throughout the day to a lesser extent. You can do a Mickey photo shoot at DD. We also had our picture with Mickey in this little area next to Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Unless you have a lot of extra cash, I wouldn't bother with the professional photographers. We always come back from our Disney trips with tons of great photos. Our best have been close ups in front of Spaceship Earth and the Tree of Life in AK. One other note about the professional photographers for hire - like everything in life, it all depends who you get. Our friends got a honeymoon package where a Disney photographer follows you around and you get your photos in a special album. They were terrible!!! The photos were basically snap shots that I could have taken. That package cost a lot of money and I know I would have complained.
Whatever you do, I'm sure you'll come back with plenty of great memories captured in photos.

[Karl]

I would agree on the Honeymoon package. Our photographer wasn't so good, but the pictures were much better than just snapshots.

We did ours in Epcot WS, so using Disney Photography allowed us access to areas guests normally can't go, and at a time without other guests walking through the shot.

The money was worth it, but the photographer wasn't the best. Wedding photographers on the otherhand have to go through like three years of an apprenticeship before they are allowed to do a wedding solo. Big bucks and a once on a lifetime (for some) experience that HAS to be done right the first time, without any mixups.

If you luck out, you'll be happy, but I think the expense would be better spent elsewhere...

KARL